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Zambian card issuing startup Union54 raises $12M led by Tiger Global

TechCrunch

Zambian card issuing fintech Union54 has raised $12 million in a seed extension round led by Tiger Global. The most popular card schemes globally are Union Pay, Visa, and Mastercard. Tiger Global leads $3M round in Zambia’s Union54 for its card-issuing API.

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Early-stage African VC firm, Microtraction reports portfolio boom despite the weight of COVID-19

TechCrunch

Michael Seibel , the CEO of Y Combinator, is a global advisor and an investor in the firm, and so is Andy Volk , the head of ecosystem for Google Sub-Saharan Africa. Microtraction revealed that it accepted over 500 applications from startups in Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, and Mauritius in its first full year of operation.

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Nigeria’s Sudo Africa raises $3.7M pre-seed for its card-issuing API platform

TechCrunch

San Francisco-based Global Founders Capital (GFC) led the round. Like many API-led fintechs, card-issuing API (pioneered by the likes of Rapyd, Ayden and even Stripe globally) is increasingly getting attention from investors who think it’s the next big thing in a sector that has attracted the most VC dollars in Africa.

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Sudan’s first YC-backed startup is helping consumers protect and grow their wealth

TechCrunch

The region happens to be one of the fastest-growing globally; nevertheless, over 200 million people in East Africa do not have access to a bank account or mobile money. Anglophone East Africa is home to over 400 million people, with half under 25.

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Nigerian startup Klasha gets an additional $2.1M for its cross-border commerce play

TechCrunch

The firm co-led the round with Global Ventures, the MENA-focused VC that has backed the likes of Tabby, Helium Health and Paymob. “I KlashaWire allows small merchants in these six countries to pay their suppliers in their local currencies. Meanwhile, its consumer base has grown to about 45,000 customers, a 4x growth from last October.

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Sudanese fintech Bloom nabs $6.5M, backed by Y Combinator, GFC and Visa

TechCrunch

based VCs Global Founders Capital (GFC) and Goodwater Capital and UAE-based early-stage firm VentureSouq. The investment from Visa came as one of the incentives for Bloom’s participation in the global card scheme’s Fintech Fast Track Program. This investment is coming after the startup’s undisclosed pre-seed round last year.

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Taptap Send raises $65M to build cross-border remittances focused on the most underserved markets

TechCrunch

Cross-border remittances — when people living and working abroad send money back home to friends and family — continues to be a huge part of how those living in developing countries, off the global financial grid, can be helped. on 2020, as parts of the global economy started to claw back growth after a tough 2020 due to Covid-19.